Originally posted by jimmo:Do you think the recent Muslim reaction to the cartoon of Mohammed wearing a bomb for a turban is the reaction of religous fervancy or irrational behavior?

Religious fervency is irrational, is it not? As the old saying goes, you can fall into the ditch on either side of the road.

The decision to draw this cartoon was not well thought out in my mind. I was especially surprised the Danes did it. Germany yes, France yes but Denmark, no. Why, knowing that radical Muslims are already inflammed, would you inflame them more? Mohammed was a religious leader, not a political leader. It would be as insulting as drawing Christ with a bomb. The only difference is that even the Christian far religious right would not riot as the Muslim right wing is doing.

Nell

More women die of lung cancer than breast cancer. If you smoke, quit. If you don't, don't start.

The christian religious right wing fundamentalists tend to be more immersed whether they like it or not in pluralistic societies that demand a higher degree of tolerance. They do react to similar issues from time to time.

I don't believe in any magical or mystical significance to coincidence or fortuitous connections, but I was just going to post something here on the reaction to The Da Vinci Code, The Last Temptation of Christ, etc., when I checked the news first and saw this. What are the odds? It is an example of a different form of response to what a particular sect of the christian church sees as upsetting. I think these links last for a couple of weeks so Kerry can delete the story itself if he wants.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Portrayed in the best-selling novel "The Da Vinci Code" as a secretive cult willing to murder to defend a fictional 2,000-year-old Catholic cover-up, Opus Dei is promoting its softer side before the movie of the book arrives in May.

Published in March 2003, Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" is one of the most popular books in publishing history with more than 40 million copies in print worldwide in 44 languages.

The book is also controversial because the plot stems from the idea Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene, and had children. Because of this, the novel has been condemned by the Roman Catholic Church.

"It's very sad that Opus Dei and the Catholic Church were portrayed unfairly in the novel," said Opus Dei spokesman Brian Finnerty. "What we're trying to do is take advantage of the interest to explain what the real Opus Dei is all about."

Opus Dei is a far-flung, conservative Catholic organization blessed by the Pope in 1982 with a special status in the church. Founded in 1928 in Spain by Jose Maria Escriva with a mission to teach Catholics to strive for holiness through their work, Opus Dei has 85,000 members worldwide, of which around 2,000 are priests. Escriva was made a saint in 2002.

But as the whipping boy of church liberals for years and with estranged members telling of coercive recruitment tactics and corporal mortification, Opus Dei has been controversial. Now, because of "The Da Vinci Code," it has to do even more to overcome the unblessed image portrayed by the book.

Opus Dei appears in the story as a shadowy cult whose henchman is a murderous albino monk named Silas, who makes himself bleed with a cilice -- a spiked metal belt strapped tight around the upper thigh -- for penance.

Passersby who approach the organization's 17-story building in Manhattan are invited to reach for a leaflet to learn about the real Opus Dei, which means "God's work."

Finnerty's job these days is to promote the group and give reporters tours of the building, a $69 million corner edifice in midtown Manhattan housing a luxurious conference center on five floors as well as accommodations and offices for around 65 members.

COUNTRY-HOUSE STYLE

Waiting rooms and lounges are furnished in country-house style with leather armchairs, antique-style furniture and elegant bookshelves carrying religious and historical works as well as novels by the likes of Willa Cather and Jane Austen.

An airy conservatory leads out to a roof-top terrace with deck-chairs, potted plants and a small statue of the Virgin and Child. Two middle-aged men were discussing "investment philosophy" in the conservatory when a visitor passed through.

A few floors down is what looks like a hotel VIP lounge with a grand piano and views of the iconic Chrysler Building.

"It's like a very nice home," Finnerty said. "It's not at all like a monastery or a 'Da Vinci Code' setting. You won't see anyone like Silas walking through here dripping blood."

John Allen, author of a book on Opus Dei, said it had long been a "lightening rod" for liberal Catholics to criticize.

"Dan Brown didn't make up the idea of Opus Dei as the boogeyman of the Catholic Church," Allen told Reuters in a phone interview from Rome, where he reports on the Vatican.

"Critics would often say Opus Dei is a very conservative version of Catholicism. Some would say it is a very worldly version of Catholicism focused on wealth and power," he said.

The late Pope John Paul II was an admirer of Opus Dei, but Allen said its influence was not as strong as some think.

Allen said just two of the 115 cardinals who elected Pope Benedict were Opus Dei, and the group claimed only around 40 of the world's 4,500 bishops as members.

"They simply don't have the stranglehold on power that people imagine," Allen said, adding that Opus Dei's wealth was also exaggerated by critics. Worldwide assets were around $2.8 billion, he said, with U.S. assets of $350 million -- around the same as a mid-sized diocese.

Finnerty emphasized Opus Dei's charitable work, including schools and hospitals in the United States and Africa.

But some former members writing on the Web site of the Opus Dei Awareness Network say that aspect is overshadowed by coercive and cult-like recruitment tactics that alienate members from their families and pressure people into harmful practices such as the use of the cilice.

Marc Carroggio, an Opus Dei spokesman brought in from Rome as a reinforcement before the film, said corporal mortification was a small and "marginal" element of Opus Dei, and voluntary. Finnerty added that Mother Theresa wore a form of a cilice.

He said Opus Dei wrote to Sony Pictures asking them to leave the organization out of the movie but to no avail, so it now aims to use the film as a "teaching moment."

The National Institutes of Health has just released the results of a $200 million research study completed under a grant to Johns Hopkins.The new study has found that women who carry a little extra weight live longer than the men who mention it.